5 fast-food meals that redefine breakfast

Taco Bell’s Waffle Taco and other morning fare.

Who says the morning meal is all about cold cereal? Certainly not America’s fast-food chains. In recent years, they’ve started pushing the envelope in terms of what constitutes the perfect breakfast food. Just this week, Taco Bell rolled out a breakfast menu at its 5,500 restaurants nationwide. Topping the chain’s list of a.m. offerings? The Waffle Taco. Granted, there’s nothing particularly south-of-the-border about it – think a waffle stuffed with scrambled eggs and sausage or bacon (syrup comes on the side). What makes it taco-like? The fact the waffle is folded like, well, a taco. (If you want something more in a Mexican vein, the chain is also offering breakfast burritos.) Taco Bell president Brian Niccol says the end goal is “to break the boring breakfast routine” and “give America a new perspective on classic breakfast tastes.”

—By Charles Passy

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Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich

Dunkin’ Donuts made headlines last year when it announced it was introducing the Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich, a sweet-meets-salty menu item featuring a fried egg and bacon stuffed between two halves of a glazed yeast doughnut. “The sandwich is fun and quirky, and that’s what makes it very ‘Dunkin,’” said chain executive chef Stan Frankenthaler at the time of the rollout. While it may seem like a fairly excessive morning item, the sandwich clocks in at 360 calories — 50 fewer calories than the chain’s reduced-fat blueberry muffin.

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Breakfast Burger

The all-American-burger: It’s not just for lunch anymore. That might as well be the slogan behind Carl’s Jr. and its Breakfast Burger: Yes, it’s a burger, but it’s got more of a morning feel in terms of the toppings — scrambled eggs, cheese and bacon. Oh, and don’t forget the hash-brown nuggets, since they go between the bun halves as well. In all, we’re talking 790 calories worth of breakfast-y goodness. But that still makes the Breakfast Burger “healthier” compared to the chain’s 1,030-calorie Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger. Either way, Carl’s Jr. seems to embrace the more-is-more philosophy. In 2005, the chain described the Breakfast Burger as a “diner plate breakfast on a bun.”

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KFC a.m. Multigrain

The combination of chicken and waffles has been a soul-food staple for many years – good for just about any time of day. But what about a chicken sandwich as a breakfast treat? Enter fried-bird giant KFC and its KFC a.m. Multigrain. Naturally, it features a “warm, wholesome multigrain bun,” but it also comes with chicken strips, scrambled eggs, mayonnaise and lettuce. It’s not offered in the United States, but it’s been featured on KFC’s menu in Malaysia. “Nothing can ruin your day when you’ve had a great breakfast,” the chain’s Malaysian arm has said in an ad promoting the menu item.

Photo:Some rights reserved by Chris Breikss

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Mimosa

Coffee may be the preferred breakfast beverage, but a mimosa is another traditional option, especially for a classy weekend brunch. And Burger King once featured a brunch menu in select states. Sure enough, the menu included a mimosa — but in this case the combo of orange juice and Champagne was given a G-rated spin and became O.J. and Sprite. The drink was intended to pair with such fare as a BK Ciabatta Breakfast Sandwich. A spokeswoman for the chain would not comment on its experiment with the drink except to say that “the brunch menu is no longer available.”

Photo:Some rights reserved by Chris Breikss

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Mimosa

Coffee may be the preferred breakfast beverage, but a mimosa is another traditional option, especially for a classy weekend brunch. And Burger King once featured a brunch menu in select states. Sure enough, the menu included a mimosa — but in this case the combo of orange juice and Champagne was given a G-rated spin and became O.J. and Sprite. The drink was intended to pair with such fare as a BK Ciabatta Breakfast Sandwich. A spokeswoman for the chain would not comment on its experiment with the drink except to say that “the brunch menu is no longer available.”

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